Be Mindful — Have No Fear

Is it just me, or has this week been pretty bipolar??? I feel like I just fell straight out of a Katy Perry Song! Just a few days ago it was so hot I was dying of heat in my dorm. Now its so cold I can’t feel my face! (Did ya catch the Hot ‘N Cold reference?? hehe) But for real, this Kansas weather is so dangerously close to the Nebraskan weather I am oh so use to: unexpected rise and falls in temperature. This whole week has just been up and down! First with the weather, then with homework, and even with things to do outside of school! One day I’m packed with homework and that’s the time everyone wants to do something! Then the next day I have no homework and there is NOTHING to do :\.

I just can’t wait for things to get into a steady groove!! These first two weeks are super shaky and I am just waiting for all of the dust to settle; for all of the schedules to become routine; for the days to just fall into place. Then the other day, when I was thinking about this need for routine, something odd kind of struck me. Now before I explain what crossed my mind I would like to elaborate upon a little fact about myself: I over think EVERYTHING! I find the deepest meaning in every little detail of life, from a feeling about school routine to a dirty shoe on the side of the road. Everything means something to me. So take what I’m about to say however you want. ANYWAY! SO I was thinking the other day about the whole routine spiel I was just talking about, and it hit me! That’s kind of how we, as Americans, generally prefer life: on a schedule; according to plan; on the right track. Why is that? Why are we so content with life being “ordinary”?

I once heard a quote from one of the best actor’s of all time, the late Heath Ledger. In playing the character The Joker in the second Batman movie, Batman: The Dark Night, The Joker is talking to Harvey Dent in a hospital bed and he says this: “Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying.” This is sooo true! If it’s expected people don’t usually have a problem with it. It’s only in the times where something out of the ordinary happens that people lose their senses and panic. When in actuality the only things that are extraordinary are the things that are out of the ordinary! When we, as American citizens, as followers of Christ, settle for the ordinary then that’s what our lives will be like: ordinary; bland; plain. So why do we settle? Why do I want life to become simple? That’s boring :\.

So that’s my challenge to all of you, and to myself: accept the changes as opportunities to make something extraordinary. Because if we settle for less then we will never grow, we will never thrive, we will never truly live. Don’t be afraid to live! Don’t be afraid to embrace something you are afraid of. Don’t be afraid to take a leap of faith or to go on an adventure. Life is full of things to be afraid of, and if you let them scare you, then don’t expect to live out loud. So stop settling, stop blending in, start growing, and start speaking out; Be Mindful — Have no Fear…